UCLADepartmental Honors Theses

TitleMilton and Empire: Satanic and Edenic Colonization in Paradise Lost

Permalinkhttps://escholarship.org/uc/item/6pf491k3

AuthorPeraic, Sebastian

Publication Date2020-03-29 Undergraduate

eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital LibraryUniversity of California

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES

MILTON AND EMPIRE: SATANIC AND EDENIC COLONIZATION IN PARADISE

LOST

A THESIS SUBMITTED TO

THE DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH

IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF ARTS

BY

SEBASTIAN N. PERAIC

ADVISOR: DEBORA K. SHUGER

LOS ANGELES, CA

MARCH 29, 2020

ABSTRACT

MILTON AND EMPIRE: SATANIC AND EDENIC COLONIZATION IN PARADISE

LOST

BY: SEBASTIAN N. PERAIC

Within Paradise Lost are numerous themes of early European

colonialism: Satan as an imperialist aggressor, Adam and Eve as

peaceful settlers, and Eden as a literal New World. Dissecting

these themes tends to beg the question whether John Milton

supported his country’s colonialism or not. The duplicity in the

poem’s colonial parallels suggests that what support Milton may

have had was conditional; in the poem, Milton condones Adam and

Eve’s colonialism, but not Satan’s. Satan’s colonialism may very

closely resemble that of the Black Legend Spanish, but this

paper will approach it differently. This thesis will suggest two

colonial readings of Paradise Lost: the first, that Satan’s

conquest of Eden resembles Oliver Cromwell’s conquest of

Jamaica; the second, that Adam and Eve’s settling in Eden

resembles the Puritan settling of New England. These two

readings create two distinct models of colonialism as Milton

understood them: an imperial model, and a settler model,

respectively. Through historical examples and evidence from the

poem, this paper will argue Milton’s support of the latter model

in favor of the former, as well as examine his stakes in writing

colonial literature.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………1

Imperial Model………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………14

Settler Model…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………28

Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………42

Bibliography………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….47

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

CPB: Commonplace Book

“Holy War”: “An Advertisement Touching an Holy War”

“Inducements to the Voyage”: “Inducements to the Liking of

the Voyage Intended towards Virginia in 40. and 42. Degrees”

PL: Paradise Lost

“Reasons for the Plantation”: “Reasons to Be Considered for

Justifying the Undertakers of the Intended Plantation in New

England and for Encouraging Such Whose Hearts God Shall Move to

Join with Them in It.”

“Use of the Law”: “The Use of the Law; For Preservation of

our Persons, Goods, and Good Names, According to the Practice of

the Laws and Customs of this Land”

Peraic 1

Introduction

It may be difficult to imagine Paradise Lost as a piece of

colonial literature. John Milton’s opinions on imperialism are

difficult to discern as he rarely, if ever, put his feelings

about the subject to paper. This has hardly deterred scholars,

especially in the mid-to-late 90s, from reading his epic poem as

a discussion of the European colonization of the New World. The

analogues are certainly apparent if one takes a closer look:

Satan as a conqueror, God as an emperor, Eden as a literal new

world with Adam and Eve as its native inhabitants. However, the

allegory instantly becomes muddy; how can God be a colonizer

like Satan when Eden, God’s colony, comes about by his creation?

How can Satan be a colonizer when his domain in Hell is

effectively a prison sentence—a punishment taking the form of

banishment to a hostile, foreign space? How can Adam and Eve be

citizens of God’s colony if they are also natives whom Satan

targets and destroys?

A postcolonial reading of this poem is messy, although many

postcolonial critics have not let this discourage their

readings. J. Martin Evans, one such critic, in his 1996 Milton’s

Imperial Epic lays out all the historical allegories he discerns

and develops them reasonably well; however, in doing so he

crafts a questionable conclusion: “Imperial expansion, the poem

Peraic 2

implies, is morally neutral. When it is practiced by the

virtuous, it is entirely admirable. When it is practiced by the

wicked, it is one of the greatest evils that the human race can

endure.” Evans’ last sentence refers to the competitive nature 1

of early European colonialism; the settlement of the New World

was a race between England, France, the Netherlands, and

Portugal to see who could hope to compete with Spain. In the

process of dominating most of Latin America, word of Spain’s

numerous atrocities committed there spread throughout England

and the rest of Europe. These horrific tales comprised the Black

Legend of Spain, which portrayed the Spanish as the “wicked”

colonizers to whom Evans refers.

My reading tends to treat the poem with more nuance than

Evans’ reading does. In Paradise Lost, a dichotomy appears in

its models of overseas expansionism: one model practiced by

Satan, whose actions resemble the heroic exploration, thirst for

Evans, Milton’s Imperial Epic, pg. 147. Note that although I 1

seek to criticize argument, while hopefully expanding upon it, I

have found his readings of the poem and the evidence he compiles

to be instrumental in informing my own readings and crafting my

own arguments. However, I do find his conclusion in need of

further depth and nuance, especially due to his impact on this

particular thread of study.

Peraic 3

resources and native abuse associated with Spanish imperialism;

and one model practiced by Adam and Eve, whose humble, self-

contained, peaceful farming settlement resembles Puritan New

England. While Satan’s imperial expansion appears to be an

object of critique in the poem, Eden is presented as a shining

example of ethical settling in foreign territory. In laying this

out, I will suggest that Satan’s parallel with the Black Legend

Spanish forms yet another parallel with England’s imperial

ventures, serving as Milton’s critique of his country’s unjust

practices. Through Adam and Eve’s parallel with the Puritan

English, I will suggest that Milton sought to provide an ideal,

classical prototype for English colonies to follow.

Moreover, Evans’ conclusion makes a few critical

assumptions worth challenging. First, his claim that Milton

viewed imperial expansion through a morally neutral lens implies

that Milton saw the difference in “wicked” or “virtuous”

expansionism to be a national difference. Evans states that

Milton would have seen Spain’s expansionism as unequivocally

immoral and wrong because they were Spaniards, not because they

were colonizers. What Evans calls “the identity of the

colonizer” matters more than their method of occupation.

Yet, even though Milton may have found the Spanish

contemptible, like any anti-Spanish, anti-Catholic Englishman of

Peraic 4

his time, I do not believe his contempt for Spain’s imperial

practices comes purely from his national loyalties. Milton was

aware of the Black Legend, if only because his nephew John

Phillip translated Las Casas’ Brevísima relación de la

destrucción de las Indias, retitled The Tears of the Indians.

In his original introduction to the translation, Phillips refers

to the “Satanical Scope” of Spanish imperialism: “For doubtless

it hath been the Satanical Scope of this Tyrant, To set all the

European Princes at Variance, and to keep them busie at home,

that they might not have leasure to bend their Forces against

his Golden Regions.” Published so near to the writing of 2

Paradise Lost, this text’s significance in reimagining Spain as

a Satanic empire cannot be denied. Should the events of Paradise

Lost be taken as part of a continuous history culminating

towards Milton’s present day, Satan effectively becomes

history’s first imperialist, acting as a prototype for Spanish

colonialism. Satan colonizes in the same destructive, tyrannical

nature which Milton associated with Spain through his knowledge

of Las Casas. Regarding the nature of Spanish colonialism,

Philips avers:

The intention of these men was Murder; and they kill'd up

the poor Indians, not as if they had been their Fellow-

John Phillips, The Tears of the Indians (1656)2

Peraic 5

Mortals, but like Death it self; and invaded their Land,

not like Men, but like the Pestilence, whose destruction is

Epidemical.

This text never neglects to criticize the evils of Spain as a

nation, but before appealing to any national animosity, Phillips

makes sure enumerate Spain’s individual moral transgressions.

Milton’s opposition to Spain’s expansionism followed the same

logic; before he directed contempt towards Spain itself, he

directed it towards Spanish Imperialism. Evans’ idea that the

identity of the parties involved took priority over the

practices at hand, then, is reductive.

Where Spain stands in Evans’ argument as the “wicked”

colonizing power, England’s position is a little more ambiguous.

Evans’ discussion of the North American colonies once again

centers national loyalties; according to him, Virginia’s

loyalties to Charles I and the royalists would have earned

Milton’s disapproval, while New England’s Puritans, who rejected

the crown’s authority along with its church, would have earned

his favor. I do not necessarily disagree with this conclusion,

but once again I find it omits important functional differences

between these colonies, such as their respective settling

processes, attachments to their mother country, and treatment of

native populations. Most notably, Evans ignores one particular

Peraic 6

imperial enterprise with which Milton would have been much more

familiar: Cromwell’s Western Design.

The Western Design was the Lord Protector Cromwell’s

dramatic and ambitious attempt to conquer the entirety of

Spanish America, which utilized a sizable military fleet to set

sail for Barbados in 1654. With this navy, Cromwell aimed to

seize Spanish holdings in the New World, liberating them from

their Catholic rulers and appropriating for England their

permanent settlements and silver mines—the very same ones Las

Casas described as forced labor camps for enslaved natives.

Striking against England’s adversaries and absorbing their new

territory and wealth would have appealed to the revolutionary

government, while also proving their military might and

providing them unprecedented financial power. However, the

navy’s invasion of Hispaniola ended in failure, leaving the

remaining forces to set their sights on Jamaica. In the campaign

for Jamaica, Cromwell’s forces found themselves fighting former

African slaves who had escaped the Spanish years before, whom

they assumed would side with the English and view them as

liberators. In the end, Jamaica was the Design’s only successful

conquest, which not only took Spain until 1670 to formally

recognize, but resulted in more than a century of guerilla

warfare between the English and the freed slaves. The project

Peraic 7

began with high expectations, and Cromwell was optimistic—the

reality of its failures was a staggering disappointment. 3

Milton may have shared in this disappointment. Given his

position in Cromwell’s government, Milton would have been well

aware of plans to mobilize a navy towards Spanish America.

Although England had permanent settlements already, both in the

American Northeast and scattered around Latin America, the

Design would be the first full-scale English invasion of the New

World. Perhaps in Milton’s eyes, England seemed to be

approaching a haunting parallel with Spain’s relentless

exploitation of the New World. On account of the Design’s goals

and failures, Milton would have been troubled by England’s

emerging imperial endeavors, which seemed all too similar to

Spain’s.

Let us take a moment to return to the text at hand. Of the

expansionist powers in Paradise Lost, Satan’s vengeful desires

for pillage, plunder, and appropriation of Eden most closely

resemble the actions of Spain’s conquistadors and Cromwell’s

navy. This more imperial form of colonialism thrives on the

For more, see Carla Pestana’s The English Conquest of Jamaica, 3

Robert Emmett Curran’s chapter on the West Indies in his

Intestine Enemies, and Robert Thomas Fallon’s “Cromwell, Milton,

and the Western Design”

Peraic 8

acquisition of material wealth, no matter the cost to human life

in the process. Satan’s promise to Sin and Death upon returning

from Earth further indicates these parallels:

…thence on the Earth

Dominion exercise and in the Air,

Chiefly on Man, sole Lord of all declar’d,

Him first make sure your thrall, and lastly kill. 4

Recall Spain’s intentions in the New World according to Las

Casas: to bring destruction and death to the Native Americans.

Here, Satan urges the seduction and enslavement of mankind

before their ultimate demise. Not only does Phillips put Spain’s

colonialism in Satanic terms, so too does Milton in making

Satan’s mission an imperial venture.

If Satan represents an evil, depraved form of expansionism

practiced by both England and Spain, then where does the poem’s

“good” colonialism come from? If the Black Legend arose from

horror at Spain’s violence, then a “good” counterpart must have

lacked such violence. In the text, this “good colonialism” is

clearly that practiced by Adam and Eve; in Milton’s time, this

was ascribed to Puritan settlements on the North Atlantic Coast,

which formed with no military might and little financial support

to back them. Instead, their settlement of New England was

PL 10.399-4024

Peraic 9

framed by bold, inexperienced religious refugees seeking a safer

and freer life, beyond mere material wealth or expansion of

territory. Although these settlers may have considered their

material gain if only in regards to their survival, the New

England Puritans sought little more than to practice their faith

freely, create farms and simply live off land they thought

vacant. This “good” colonialism—which Adam and Eve mimic in the

poem through peacefully planting in Eden and basking in its

abundance—foils that which Milton criticizes through Satan.

Satan is willing to lay waste to Eden in his attempt to claim

it, while Adam and Eve live in harmony with their dwelling,

simultaneously reaping and maintaining its bounty.

Furthermore, Adam and Eve’s colonialism is free from yet

another economic enterprise which dominated the early colonial

period: slavery. Slavery has no analogue in Paradise Lost, but

the language which Hell’s denizens—Beelzebub, for instance—use

to refer to themselves is illuminating:

And know not that the King of Heav’n hath doom’d

This place our dungeon, not our safe retreat

Beyond his Potent arm, to live exempt

From Heav’n’s high jurisdiction, in new League

Banded against his Throne, but to remain

In strictest bondage, though thus far remov’d,

Peraic 10

Under th’ inevitable curb, reserv’d

His captive multitude: For he, be sure,

In highth or depth, still first and last will Reign

Sole King, and of his Kingdom lose no part

By our revolt, but over Hell extend

His Empire, and with Iron Sceptre rule

Us here, as with his Golden those in Heav’n. 5

Beelzebub’s language describes a forced removal from their

homeland to live in a foreign, hostile space, while still

“captive” to the “jurisdiction” which “doom’d” them to this

fate. This passage laments the injustice inflicted upon them, in

transporting them to this space against their will—a rare

instance in which the devils appear wholly sympathetic.

This can certainly be interpreted as alluding to the

displacement of West Africans from their homelands through the

slave trade, another travesty with which Spain had been long

involved, along with England to a lesser extent. Barbados, for

instance, trafficked African slave labor long before Jamaica

PL 2.315-3285

Peraic 11

became England’s preferred slave port. However, Beelzebub’s 6

lament may also refer to England’s preferred method of providing

manual labor to its mid-Atlantic colonies in North America: the

mass transport of convicts as indentured servants. Alan D.

Watson informs us:

Numerically far more important than slaves before 1700, and

remaining a conspicuous component of the bound emigrants to

English America until the American Revolution, indentured

servants constituted well more than half and perhaps as

many as two-thirds of the whites who traveled to the

colonies before independence. 7

Convict transportation had been in full swing since the reign of

James I, and although the practice dwindled during Cromwell’s

time, it was hardly out of the ordinary. For Milton, this means

where Spain relied on forced labor, England did too—from both

Milton’s Commonplace Book reveals his feelings on slavery, 6

where he claims “Refuge from hard-hearted masters was given to

slaves by civil law” (CPB p. 113). It seems Milton was not

fundamentally against slavery in general, only in its cruelest

form. His exposure to New World slavery through Las Casas may

have earned his disapproval.

Alan D. Watson, “A Consideration of European Indentured 7

Servitude in Colonial North Carolina.” pg. 381

Peraic 12

foreign and domestic populations. The Puritan settlements on the

East Coast, however, did no such thing. Like Adam and Eve, the

Puritans produced colonies that had no need to “make…thrall” or

“lastly kill” the native inhabitants.

Therefore, Milton’s portrayal of Eden praised New England,

and his portrayal of Satan criticized Spain and Cromwell. Yet,

even though I will argue Paradise Lost should be viewed as a

piece of colonial literature, I would not claim that Milton

necessarily intended it to be read this way. His depiction of

Satanic and Edenic colonization may simply have been an

inflection of the geo-political landscape of his era. However,

had he intended such a reading, then the split model of

colonialism that appears in Paradise Lost comes from a desire to

see colonialism carried out in a responsible, ethical fashion.

Perhaps in creating this dichotomy, Milton does what Maja-Lisa

von Sneidern claims he accomplishes: “Through example, Paradise

Lost offers historicity to the colonial enterprise, sanctions

the project, and instructs and cautions those who must implement

Peraic 13

it on how best to proceed.” If this statement reflects how 8

Milton saw colonialism as a whole, then Eden is Milton’s example

of an ideal colony: the prototype for an innocent “colonial

enterprise.”

The first section of this paper will discuss the Satanic

paradigm, which I will refer to as the “imperial” model of

colonialism. This model is characterized by state interests,

military endeavors, the harvesting and abuse of natural

resources, and the disregard, oppression, or active destruction

of native populations. In traveling to Earth, Satan seeks to do

all of these, thus prefiguring the Early Modern imperialist.

The second section will focus on the Edenic paradigm, a

kinder, gentler form of colonialism which I will call the

“settler” model. This model is founded on classical notions of

colonies and colonists, emphasizing humble farming settlements,

self-sufficiency, free labor and peace. Adam and Eve live this

simple, homestead-ish lifestyle before Satan finds and ruins

them.

Maja-Lisa von Sneidern, Savage Indignation, pg. 33. Von 8

Sneidern mostly argues Milton’s position to be pro-colonial,

giving little attention to the dichotomy or nuance I wish to

present. Despite this, her claim here best represents what

Paradise Lost accomplishes as a piece of colonial literature.

Peraic 14

The Imperial Model

To begin connecting this imperial colonialism to Paradise

Lost, we must first define the proper analogue in the text; this

tends to be Satan. To carry out his design against God, Satan

travels vast, unknown distances to stake claims on newly

discovered space. In this regard, he functions much like the

Early Modern colonial adventurer as Evans describes: “Those who

journeyed to the New World were consistently portrayed in early

colonial literature as being more ambitious, more energetic, and

more daring than those who stayed behind in the Old.” His 9

bombastic speeches, long and harrowing voyages, and grand,

dramatic gestures of rebellion also fit this role. However,

Satan’s adventurous nature quickly turns malicious and

exploitative; characterizing him more like a Black Legend

conquistador rather than a romanticized adventurer.

At this point, it is necessary to lay out what Milton

accomplishes in projecting this conquistador stereotype onto the

Prince of Lies. While Milton wrote Paradise Lost, much of the

English consciousness regarding the New World drew from the

Black Legend of Spain. English versions of the Black Legend,

while informed by eyewitness accounts such as those by Las

Evans pg. 619

Peraic 15

Casas, were exaggerated for the sake of fostering anti-Spanish,

anti-Catholic sentiments—sentiments that would later justify

England’s imperial endeavors. Many of England’s early colonial

theorists list, among their reasons for acquiring territory in

the New World, a desire to liberate it from Spanish rule.

Captain John Smith, who wrote about his own disgust at Spanish

greed and brutality, viewed them rather competitively, even

admitting admiration for Spain’s and Portugal’s first steps in

exploration for England to follow. Thomas Gage, before his 10

advisory role on the Western Design, was an ex-Dominican friar

who wrote in favor of “a Protestant crusade to liberate Central

and South America from the ‘Romish’ Spaniards.” Of these 11

sources, recall that Milton was most familiar with Las Casas

through Phillips, giving him not only a basis on which to

critique Spanish imperial colonialism, but a source for his

portrayal of Satan. Therefore, Milton’s Satan exemplifies the

See Captain Smith’s A Description of New England10

Robert Emmett Curran, Intestine Enemies pg. 10111

Peraic 16

imperial model of colonialism, which primarily forms in response

to Spain. 12

Satan’s role in Paradise Lost as an imperial colonist is

central to most postcolonial readings of the poem. Christopher

Hodgkins rests much of his argument on comparisons between Satan

and the historical conquistadors like Cortes, da Gama, and

Columbus: “Milton’s Satan succeeds against seemingly great odds

by manipulating and mastering the native religious imagination

I tend to say “imperial colonialism” when I could just as 12

easily say “imperialism,” and I want to specify why. Our modern

understandings of imperialism do not quite apply to 17th century

overseas expansion, both in theory and in practice. I base this

off of Edward Said’s distinction between imperialism and

colonialism in his Culture and Imperialism: imperialism as

“the practice, the theory, and the attitudes of a dominating

metropolitan center ruling a distant territory,” and colonialism

as merely “the implanting of settlements on distant territory”

which, however, he considers “almost always a consequence of

imperialism” (See his Culture and Imperialism pg. 9). Although

the imperial model follows this paradigm, I will argue that

settler colonialism is one such instance where colonialism comes

about in a non-imperialist nature.

Peraic 17

through the crucial agency of a woman.” Satan’s insinuation of 13

“himself into religious premonitions and imaginings at the

cultic center of native life” and returning with loot in the

form of a subdued Eden closely resembles Cortes’ tactics against

the Aztecs and his loot in the form of their gold. Other 14

scholars make similar comparisons; Evans, for example, calls

Satan a “demonic Sir Francis Drake.” According to Maja Lisa von 15

Sneidern: “Milton envisioned a proud, arrogant younger son of a

Spanish grandee induced by a decadent system of inheritance to

treacherously extract wealth from innocents to finance a

despicable lifestyle.” 16

While an analogue with Spain is tempting to accept, Satan

contains multitudes. By paralleling Satan with a multitude of

explorers and colonists, both Hodgkins and Evans imply that

Satan cannot be confined to representing a single ruthless,

destructive adventurer. The warlike and ambitious Satan shakes

hands with the conquistadors, but he also shakes hands with

Drake and with Cromwell, indicating that Milton may have looked

on in horror as Cromwell carried out his Western Design. Just as

Christopher Hodgkins, Reforming Empire pg. 6513

Hodgkins pg. 7014

Evans pg. 63 15

Von Sneidern pg. 3916

Peraic 18

the Spanish captured native settlements “because these Cities

and other places were such pleasant abodes,” Cromwell planned to

capture Spain’s outposts built on these “abodes”: not unlike

Satan capturing the already-settled Eden. In creating a 17

conquistador-like Satan, Milton may have sought to warn his

countrymen that England was soon to follow Spain’s footsteps in

their expansionist enterprises. As Walter Lim puts it, “we must

respond to the portrayal of Satan by recognizing the ambiguity

intrinsic to its wide range of allusions.” Furthermore, no 18

matter what persons, factions, and national interests Satan may

represent, Milton uses him to condemn their common imperial

colonialism.

Milton rarely wrote of his personal feelings regarding

England’s colonization efforts, or New World colonialism in

general; therefore, discerning his position on the matter is

Bartolome de Las Casas, trans. by Phillips, Tears of the 17

Indians pg. 29

Walter Lim, Arts of Empire pg. 213. Lim’s discussion of 18

Paradise Lost is short, but in my research I found it very

constructive in understanding Milton’s critiques of imperial

colonialism.

Peraic 19

difficult. Yet, an excerpt from his “Commonplace Book” provides 19

some insight—one regarding his feelings about Cromwell’s defeat

at Hispaniola, the Design’s first debacle: “Victory is based,

not on strength or military experience, but on whether he who

begins the war has God on his side.” Although it would be bold 20

to say Milton would accept that Spain had God on its side, it is

reasonable to assume that Cromwell’s failure might lead Milton

to question the moral righteousness of his endeavor. It is also

worth considering Adam’s shock and horror at Michael’s prophecy

of the violence and bloodshed mankind would inflict on each

other in years to come:

Death’s Ministers, not men, who thus deal death

Inhumanly to men, and multiply

Ten-thousandfold the sin of him who slew

His brother; for of whom such massacre

Some say Milton unabashedly supported all of England’s 19

attempts, up to and including the Western Design; Bruce McLeod

cites Milton’s friendships with more adamant Cromwell

supporters, his approval of Cromwell’s treatment of Ireland, and

his “militant Protestantism that had imperial expansion in its

every sinew” as evidence of his unconditional support (See his

“The ‘Lordly Eye’” pg. 50).

CPB P. 24320

Peraic 20

Make they but of their brethren, men of men? 21

Milton may have seen the Design as a fundamentally unjust war

waged for the sake of profit and power, and at the cost of

innocent native lives. Readers of Paradise Lost can easily say

the same for Satan’s prospects. Satan, principally opposed to

God in his mission, is both unjust and doomed to defeat, as we

see with his punishment in Hell upon his return from Eden.

Prior to the Design, England had a presence in the

Caribbean, which Milton likely disapproved of for a different

reason. Almost three decades before they settled Jamaica, the

English had minor colonies in the Caribbean, including Barbados,

which saw the majority of England’s first slave imports. Not

only had Spain enslaved natives soon after their arrival, but

they were the first to partake in the Trans-Atlantic slave

trade. For England to partake in this practice would seem like

another step towards mimicking Spanish atrocity. Milton uses

Adam yet again to condemn this, this time in his response to the

events at the Tower of Babel:

O execrable Son so to aspire

Above his Brethren, to himself assuming

Authority usurpt, from God not giv’n:

He gave us only over Beast, Fish, Fowl

PL 11.675-68021

Peraic 21

Dominion absolute; that right we hold

By his donation; but Man over men

He made not Lord; such title to himself

Reserving, human left from human free. 22

Michael responds to Adam’s horror with an explanation of

tyranny, its evils, and its continued existence in human

history. This exchange may be Milton’s direct condemnation of

slavery, if not imperial colonialism as a whole. These exchanges

between Adam and Michael feel like direct injections of Milton’s

beliefs. This dialogue, taken together with what we know of

Milton’s personal attitudes, supports a historical analogue

between Satan and an imperial colonist.

As we discuss this analogue, let us begin with the demonic

council in Book 2 and its deliberation of military strategy. It

is here that the devils first plan their strike against Earth;

it is also here that, as Evans remarks, the devils first lay out

“virtually all the social and political arguments that were

advanced in favor of England’s colonial expansion.” These 23

arguments include the benefits of disrupting the vulnerable

foreign outposts of their adversary, as well as territorial

expansion. Their debate reflects the underlying motives that

PL 12.64-7122

Evans pg. 6323

Peraic 22

created the Design in the first place: a desire to disrupt

Spain’s hold on Latin America and secure their own presence

there.

While Satan resembles Cromwell in his motives, he also

employs a similar strategy. Satan’s voyage requires that he

avoid God’s attention, or God might ruin his plan. Carla Pestana

remarks on a similar process during preparations for the Design:

This impressively bold project proceeded with the utmost

secrecy. Cromwell’s control over the military

infrastructure in England was well demonstrated by his

ability to keep the purpose of the Design from public view

even while extensive preparations spanned many months and

occupied many people. 24

Just as Satan attempts to conceal his insurrection from God,

Cromwell sought to escape the notice of the general public, and

Spain by extension. Cromwell’s attempt at secrecy came apart all

too easily; not long before Cromwell’s massive armada set sail

for Barbados, the speculative English press, “joined by spies,

foreign observers, and scattered residents of the British

Isles,” revealed the true purpose of the voyage—not only to the

public, but to Spain and to the rest of Europe. Compare this 25

Pestana pg. 1924

Pestana pg. 3325

Peraic 23

with the results of Satan’s attempt at secrecy, of which God

immediately notices.

…he then survey’d

Hell and the Gulf between, and Satan there

Coasting the wall of Heav’n on this side Night

In the dun Air sublime… (PL 3.69-72) 26

The parallel almost makes a farce out of Cromwell’s failed

secrecy. Like the Design, Satan’s voyage of conquest and

destruction fails, and is thus proven to be poorly planned,

poorly executed, and overly costly.

This interpretation of Satan’s voyage as dangerous and

wasteful is not unlike most early perceptions of colonialism in

general. The short-lived Roanoke colony of the 1580s, for

instance, survived in English consciousness as a tragic and

wasteful disaster. Roger L. Nichols holds that “the early record

of English colonial activity, like that of their European

competitors, ended with economic failure, large-scale loss of

life, and considerable violence.” Any suggestions that England 27

undertake yet another massive settling enterprise must have

reckoned with this precedent. Not only did the English waste

PL 3.69-7226

Roger L. Nichols, Indians in the United States and Canada: a 27

Comparative History pg. 49

Peraic 24

time and resources, they entered conflict and tension with

people they wished not to antagonize, drawing England closer to

the Spanish imperial model they wished to avoid. Even Jamestown,

despite its ultimate success, endured harrowing loss before it

would remain for good—hardly encouraging tales for future

prospects.

Of course, the danger and wastefulness of Satan’s

imperialist venture is only overshadowed by its evil. It takes

little argument to position him as a moral adversary, but it is

important nonetheless to discuss his specific crimes. Gabriel

lays them out succinctly upon encountering him in Eden:

Why hast thou, Satan, broke the bounds prescrib’d

To thy transgressions, and disturb’d the charge

Of others, who approve not to transgress

By thy example, but have power and right

To question thy bold entrance on this place;

Imploy’d it seems to violate sleep, and those

Whose dwelling God hath planted here in bliss? 28

First, Gabriel declares the mere act of leaving Hell, breaking

the “bounds prescrib’d,” and entering the already inhabited Eden

unlawful. This, along with the crimes of disturbing the “charge

of others,” and violating “sleep” of those “planted here in

PL 4.879-88428

Peraic 25

bliss,” reads like yet another condemnation of the Spanish, who

did what Satan is accused of by sending their navy out from

Spain to pillage, conquer, and subjugate the New World. Nor was

Spain alone; England had just begun traveling abroad, claiming

foreign territory, and angering native people. Satan, Spain, and

England alike receive a direct condemnation, from on high, of

their imperial colonialism.

To reiterate, England’s attempts to compete with Spain’s

imperial colonialism resulted in mirroring it. While England

originally set out to hinder their Spanish enemies and bring

justice to Spain’s victims, they would soon set out for more

blatantly selfish goals, particularly the acquisition of wealth

and territory. The shift in priorities and values is not unlike

Satan’s when he arrives in Eden. Before he arrives on Earth and

even before the council, Satan claims his goals are to

surreptitiously reclaim a place in Heaven, which he calls “just

inheritance of old,” but upon setting his eyes on Earth he opts

to conquer and plunder Earth instead. Satan does diverge from 29

the English in this regard, in that he hardly hesitates to

corrupt and destroy the native people—in the form of Adam and

Eve—that he encounters. Although England’s peace with the Native

Americans was tense and interspersed with conflict, they made a

PL 2.3729

Peraic 26

conscious effort to maintain this peace. The elder Richard

Hakluyt, one of early colonialism’s most enthusiastic

supporters, recognized the risks of entering commerce with the

natives, especially the disaster that may strike if they and the

settlers came to blows:

But if seeking revenge on every injurie of the Salvages we

seeke blood & raise war, our Vines, our Olives, our Figge

trees, our Sugar-Canes, our Orenges and Limons, Corne,

Cattell, &c. will be destroyed, and trade of merchandise in

all things overthrowen; and so the English nation there

planted and to be planted, shall be rooted out with sword

and hunger. 30

It appears that the desire not to harm the natives was not

necessarily born of compassion, but necessity. The English at

least hesitated to treat them with hostility; the Black Legend

stories informed them that Spain had no such hesitation.

Satan’s allegory drifts slightly further towards Spain in a

few more aspects: his Magellan-like circumnavigation of the

Earth, his Cortes-like seduction of Eve, and his Columbus-like

voyage, which succeeds very much by chance. However, Milton’s

description of Adam and Eve immediately prior to the Fall

Richard Hakluyt (The Elder), “Inducements to the Voyage”30

Peraic 27

solidifies this comparison, by invoking Columbus by name in the

text itself:

O how unlike

To that first naked Glory. Such of late

Columbus found th’ American so girt

With feather’d Cincture, naked else and wild

Among the Trees on Isles and woody Shores. 31

This passage—which explicitly connects Adam and Eve with the

native people the English tried so hard not to harm, and shows

in their last moment in peace before their exile from their

joyous and peaceful dwelling—frames Satan’s endeavor as a

campaign against native people. Victorious, he leaves them

ruined, naked, and alone, just as Columbus did.

Thus, Satan employs stratagems that simultaneously resemble

contemporary English colonial activity and earlier Spanish

exploration and conquest. Milton’s use of Spain’s colonial

history in crafting Satan seems to be just that; however, it

cannot be coincidence that this history found itself relevant to

England at the same time as the composition of Paradise Lost.

Would Milton have stomached the Western Design forces fighting

former slaves, while posturing themselves as liberators? Would

he have supported Cromwell’s plans to keep Spain’s mines running

PL 9.1114-111831

Peraic 28

under different management? Would he have stood for the loss of

life incurred in the process, or the warfare that persisted

years after taking Jamaica? The answer may be found in his

Satan.

However, reading Satan as an imperialist aggressor depends

on Adam and Eve’s status as native people. When one thinks of

Adam and Eve as colonists in their own right, and of Eden as

their colony, the other side of Milton’s discourse reveals

itself. The next part of this paper will discuss how the two of

them, as peaceful settlers, prefigure the settler model of

colonialism, rather than the imperial.

Settler Model

Before addressing the settler model of colonialism as it

appears in Paradise Lost, I want to elaborate on Edward Said’s

distinction between imperialism and colonialism. In this

distinction, he claims that although the two terms denote two

distinct settling processes, colonialism always follows

imperialism, and therefore cannot exist without it. While this

notion may be true in most instances, I do not think this works

as a hard and fast rule. The examples discussed in the previous

section certainly align with Said’s claim; Spain’s conquest, the

Western Design, and the colonies in Virginia and Maryland were

Peraic 29

colonial projects that were imperial in nature. However, in

Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay, colonies emerged with little to

no contact with native people and virtually no military force.

The people who settled these colonies were not conquistadors,

but religious refugees acting on their own accord with little

national support. When they arrived, they found a relatively

empty pocket of land, leading to a settling process free of the

violence that characterized the imperial conquests mentioned

above. This, I wish to postulate, is an instance of colonialism

without imperialism: an alternate paradigm I refer to as settler

colonialism. 32

As opposed to the more oppressive and unjust imperial

colonialism, settler colonialism is imagined as the work of

peaceful farmers in harmony with their place on foreign soil

like Milton’s Adam and Eve dwelling in Eden. Whereas Satan sees

The definition I use for settler colonialism is not how 32

settler colonialism is typically referred to. Settler

colonialism tends to involve, in most other historical examples,

replacing native inhabitants, either through violence or

integration, with colonial settlers. Although I find this to be

true for the settling of New England, I suggest that Milton did

not see settler colonialism this way, for reasons I explain in

my conclusion.

Peraic 30

the creation of Earth as an invitation to go forth and plunder,

Adam and Eve see Earth as their home—their bountiful garden to

which they tend—much like how the Puritans saw New England.

Satan intends to conquer and exploit, while the humans intend

only to live; this divergence between the two epitomizes the

difference between their forms of colonialism. While Satan

travels to Eden on behalf of his home nation in order to claim

its land and resources, with no regard for the people who dwell

there, Adam and Eve’s colonialism not only lacks these traits

but exhibits the defining feature of settler colonialism:

planting.

The word “planting” appears in a few different contexts in

early colonial discourse, particularly from the late 16th

century on: planting permanent settlements, planting true

religion, or just literal planting. While the first two forms 33

of planting have little relevance in Paradise Lost, when it

comes to literal planting, Adam and Eve are the poem’s only sort

of farmers. It is important to consider this in context with the

See the elder Richard Hakluyt’s “Inducements to the Voyage”, 33

and the younger Richard Hakluyt’s Discourse of Western Planting.

The elder Hakluyt refers to the desire to “plant Christian

religion” in his work, applying the term planting beyond its

meaning.

Peraic 31

Early Modern understanding of “colony.” The classical meaning of

colony can be gleaned from Columbus’ original surname, Colon,

which Las Casas defines as “someone who settles a land for the

first time.” This definition, which Milton likely subscribed 34

to, denotes simple farming homesteads on foreign soil, with no

implication of imperial conquest. Adam and Eve are colonists in

this sense, and Milton clearly sees their settling in their

Edenic colony as proper and ethical. 35

Before I discuss Eden’s New World analogue, I want to

readdress Adam and Eve’s role as native people. For the sake of

the previously discussed imperial model, Adam and Eve behave as

the native people on whom the imperial Satan preys. Evans and

Hodgkins, for instance, refer to Adam and Eve primarily in such

Las Casas, Historia de las Indias, edited by Augustin Millares 34

Carlo, pg. 28

I wish to acknowledge that although the humans do plant in 35

Eden by way of tending to the garden, there is little that makes

it a foreign place to them. In fact, Eden is more foreign to

Satan than it is to Adam and Eve. However, Adam and Eve’s

planting in Eden does, by Milton’s logic, cement their

sovereignty in Eden, regardless of any foreignness. Therefore,

this particular argument will continue to treat Eden as a

foreign, colonized place with Adam and Eve as its settlers.

Peraic 32

terms. Simply referring to Adam and Eve as native people and

ignoring the evidence that suggests their status as settlers

feels incomplete. On the other hand, using their settler

colonialism as evidence of Milton’s full support of colonialism

in all its forms is also flawed. When treated as settlers, they 36

model a distinctive form of colonialism: one associated with the

New England colonies.

One might point out the Puritans’ abuse of the New England

natives and suggest they were no different than their imperial

neighbors. This was not quite the case; before they arrived in

New England, a wave of illness had already cleared out most of

the native population in a sizable region, including Plymouth

and Massachusetts Bay. As a result, the Puritans had little in

the way of open conflict with the local population for almost

two decades. The Pequot War in 1637, in which the natives

finally came to blows with the Plymouth settlers, would be the

first challenge to the Puritan’s ability and willingness to

Scholars such as Von Sneidern tend to focus on Adam and Eve’s 36

divinely ordained rule in Eden as a metaphor for English mastery

over the New World.

Peraic 33

dwell in New England peacefully. For the most part, before and 37

after this incident, the Puritans would treat the natives not as

enemies, but as neighbors and potential trading partners.

What tension did arise came from the settlers’ desire to

spread their faith to the New World. Carla Pestana makes clear

that the Puritans “understood the colonization project in terms

This instance of tension was hardly isolated. Even though the 37

English portrayed themselves as civilized counterparts to

Spanish barbarism, their own behavior in New England, in both

Puritan settlements and elsewhere, was of its own brand of

exploitation. They often looked down upon the natives, sought to

convert them, and maintained a desire “to conquer” (see: Elder

Hakluyt, “Inducements to the Voyage”). However, given the

influence of the Spanish Black Legend and Milton’s own scope of

knowledge regarding English colonial activity, it is fair to say

the reality mattered much less than his perceptions in his

critique. This goes for his understanding of Spain as well;

whether or not Spain had peaceful, Eden-like settlements would

have made little difference to Milton’s opinion. In essence, the

two paradigms of colonialism in Paradise Lost are based more on

Milton’s understanding and perception of these colonization

processes, not necessarily the concrete facts behind them.

Peraic 34

of spreading true religion to the Americas.” This distinctly 38

religiously-motivated colonialism existed in nearly all

iterations of Early Modern colonialism, but it feels

particularly relevant both to the Puritans and to Paradise Lost.

If the poem is to be read as colonial literature, then it makes

sense to incorporate its biblical source to establish its forms

of colonialism as having a similar religious motivation. The

writings of John Winthrop, one of the architects of the

Massachusetts Bay colony, show what Pestana describes as

“biblical strictures to make the land fruitful:”

The whole earth is the lords Garden & he hath given it to

the sonnes of men, with a generall Condition, Gen:1.28.

Increase & multiply, replenish the earth & subdue it…the

end is Double morall & naturall that man might injoy the

fruites of the earth & god might have his due glory form

the creature, why then should we stand hear striveing for

places of habitation, (many men spending as much labor &

cost to recover or keep somtymes a Acre or two of land as

would procure them many hundred as good or better in an

other country) and in ye mean tyme suffer a whole

Carla Pestana, Protestant Empire pg. 12938

Peraic 35

Continent, as fruitfull & convenient for the use of man to

lie waste without any improvement. 39

This passage reveals two points of interest. First, the

reference to Genesis chapter one, which appears almost verbatim

in Paradise Lost in Book 7:

Be fruitful, multiply, and fill the Earth,

Subdue it, and throughout Dominion hold

Over Fish of the Sea, and Fowl of the Air,

And every living thing that moves on the Earth. 40

In the text, this is God’s blessing to humanity to dwell in and

enjoy his creation. When read alongside Winthrop, this feels

like an acknowledgement and endorsement of the Puritan

settlement effort. If the Puritans saw themselves as fulfilling

God’s “condition” as Winthrop puts it, then they’d see this

passage from Paradise Lost as an expression of approval. To

them, the New World was an empty, “fruitful” space yet to be

enjoyed—a space they felt entitled to enjoy.

The second point of interest is that mention of the other

“continent” lying empty, lying in “waste,” waiting to be

populated. I mentioned before that the Puritans settled what

they thought was vacant land, uninhabited and uncultivated by

John Winthrop, Reasons for the Plantation (1629).39

PL 7.531-53440

Peraic 36

the natives. By the time Winthrop wrote this, he and his

settlers had made contact with New England’s natives, and yet

still saw their land as free to settle. Winthrop goes on to

address concerns over the natives’ right to the land:

And for the Natives in New England they inclose noe land

neither have any setled habitation nor any tame cattle to

improve the land by, & soe have noe other but a naturall

right to those countries Soe as if wee leave them

sufficient for their use wee may lawfully take the rest,

there being more than enough for them & us. 41

This second passage explicitly states that settling upon lands

that were farmed and inhabited by no one was acceptable under

the law. Francis Bacon’s “Use of the Law” describes lawful

property by entry as “where a man findeth a piece of land that

no other possesseth, or hath title unto, and he that so findeth

it doth enter.” In Paradise Lost, Adam and Eve enter a locale 42

possessed by no one, effectively granting them lawful access to

Eden. Therefore, based on this parallel with Paradise Lost and

For more, see Winthrop’s answers to common objections against 41

the plantation, wherein he claims good terms with the

neighboring natives, as well as knowledge of their diminished

numbers due to disease.

Francis Bacon, “Use of the Law”, pg. 57642

Peraic 37

Puritan biblical rhetoric, and parallels with Eden’s and New

England’s settlement process, the settling of both is morally

and lawfully justified. Peaceful, plentiful, and pastoral, Eden

is just as idyllic a birthplace for humanity as it is a colony.

The images Milton uses to describe Eden also help us

understand its role as the ideal prototype of the New England

colonies. Thus, Milton often evokes a North American wilderness

in Eden’s landscape. Satan’s view of Eden upon arriving shows us

such an untamed, uncultivated landscape:

...and to the border comes

Of Eden, where delicious Paradise,

Now nearer, Crowns with her enclosure green,

As with a rural mound the champaign head

Of a steep wilderness, whose hairy sides

With thicket overgrown, grotesque and wild,

Access deni’d; and over head up grew

Insuperable highth of loftiest shade,

Cedar, and Pine, and Fir, and branching Palm,

A Silvan Scene, and as the ranks ascend

Shade above shade, a woody Theatre

Of stateliest view. 43

PL 4.131-14243

Peraic 38

Eden’s “border” region, marked by this “grotesque and wild”

growth, starkly contrasts its interior, which is tamed,

peaceful, and well-tended by Adam and Eve. The Eden Satan looks

upon appears like wilderness with a small pocket of civilization

carved out by its settlers. One might argue this as another

instance of Satan preying upon natives, but let us remember

Winthrop’s claim that the natives did not cultivate or live off

their land. Adam and Eve live quite happily off their land,

tending to it and feeding off the bounty therein. Their

lifestyle hardly reflects that of the natives whom Winthrop

encountered, whose lands consisted not of extensive farmland,

but of hunting grounds. It stands to reason that Satan’s first

encounter with Eden does not seem like an encounter with native

lands but with a pre-established colony.

After establishing Eden as an ideal settler colony, the

poem goes about critiquing its flaws. Like New England and its

mother country, Eden and Heaven lie in considerable distance

from each other, which strains their functionality. Besides

being a physical barrier between these realms, the distance also

complicates their relationship with each other as governing and

governed bodies. Hell and Earth, despite having their own

masters, still fall under Heaven’s rule; in Eden, this is first

explained by Raphael. While Adam and Eve reign freely over Eden,

Peraic 39

Raphael still appears to check on them at signs of trouble. His

conversation with Adam calls attention to Earth’s continued ties

to Heaven despite the physical distance between them. Just as

this distance problematizes the dynamic between Heaven and

Earth, the distance between the Puritans and their home country

problematized their ability to settle. Regarding the Puritans,

their voyages were aided and made possible by creditors in

London, whose continued support hinged upon the Puritans’

success. Raphael explains a similar sort of conditional support

from Heaven to Earth to Adam:

Attend: That thou art happy, owe to God;

That thou continu’st such, owe to thyself,

That is, to thy obedience; therin stand.

This was that caution giv’n thee; be advised…

And soe are fall’n, to disobedience fall’n,

and so from Heav’n to deepest Hell; O fall

From what high state of bliss into what woe! 44

Raphael relates that should Adam and Eve break their promises

and oaths to God, the worst should befall them. This idea that

Adam and Eve, like the Puritans in New England, could lose their

means of support and be left to their own devices in a strange

and foreign land makes Raphael’s claims more troubling than

PL 5.519-523/541-54344

Peraic 40

anything else. When Satan arrives, mankind’s estrangement from

God becomes a real possibility, besides just a theoretical

consequence for disobedience.

Thus, God prepares for Satan to corrupt mankind and sever

the bond between them and heaven, setting forth a plan to redeem

them back in Book 3. After the Fall, mankind will multiply,

stray from divinity, and form kingdoms until the Son bears the

burden of their sin. After the Son redeems mankind and frees

them of original sin, they will thrive with little but their

consciences and prayer to guide them. As Adam and Eve depart

from Eden, cast off by their former ruler, they do so with

little but Michael’s reassurance and “Providence thir guide.” 45

God seems to set things in motion that result in mankind

enjoying their freedom as was originally intended.

Remember the evidence which suggests that Milton’s ideal

colony need not be attached to the nation from which it came,

and might prosper independently without external rule or

sovereignty. A brief look at the history of Massachusetts Bay

will provide precedent for this idea. Even though the Puritans

had minor financial backing, they not only emerged independently

of the English state, but maintained their independence for

decades. Massachusetts Bay was the only chartered colony for

PL 12.64745

Peraic 41

years to have its governorship based in the colony itself, and

not in England proper. The colony’s resistance to the navigation

acts of the 1660s and 1670s not only shows their desire to

remain this way, but also aligns with Bacon’s conjecture for the

colonies’ future: “Surely the merchants themselves shall rise in

judgment against the princes and nobles of Europe, for they have

made a great path in the seas, unto the ends of the world.” 46

I argue that Milton agreed with this theory and approved of

it. Just as Adam and Eve prepare to settle the world outside of

Eden by their own self-governance, Milton hypothesizes that the

best path for the Puritan settlements to follow would be to do

away with their ties to England, living and governing by their

own accord. This may be a result of a fantasy about the

classical colonist; having survived a harrowing voyage and

settling an unwelcoming land, Milton’s ideal colonists become

self-determining and colonize not on behalf of some imperial

power, but on behalf of themselves. This fantasy forms not only

in light of the Puritans’ success, but in opposition to the

state-sponsored Spanish colonies in Latin America, and the

English colonies that copied them. Thus, in discussing the

settler model of colonialism, Milton may critique its errors,

but only as a guide to rectify said errors and teach his readers

Bacon, “Holy War” pg. 52346

Peraic 42

to colonize more properly. He does not give the imperial model

the same dignity.

Conclusion

What was Milton’s stake in the colonial project? Besides

Paradise Lost itself, the previous sections tend to rely on non-

Miltonic sources in determining his position. He hardly

participated in early colonial discourse himself, and the

politics he did participate in had little to do with foreign

settling. If von Sneidern is right, and Milton wrote his epic

poem as a strategy guide on how to properly colonize, then

Paradise Lost would be Milton’s only assertion into colonial

discourse and politics. This reading certainly makes sense,

based on Milton’s apparent warning against following the

imperial model and his endorsement of the settler model.

However, Milton may have simply included colonial motives

and strategies into his poem incidentally. In creating a cosmic

struggle between good and evil, perhaps Milton looked to those

he admired and despised in his time for models. His admiration

of settler colonists and his aversion to imperial colonists may

have made its way into his poetry by way of his search for moral

examples. This begs the possibility that Milton had absolutely

no intention of creating an allegory with the settling of the

Peraic 43

New World. If this allegory were incidental, then Paradise Lost,

while illuminating Milton’s colonial thought, has no

accompanying political agenda.

So why does the poem bear so much resemblance to New World

colonization? Why do Satan’s tactics echo imperial strategies of

the 16th and 17th centuries so blatantly? Why does the

foreignness of Eden seem so strikingly similar to the

foreignness of New England? Why mention Columbus by name?

Consider, for a moment, Great Expectations. Although the

work deals primarily with Pip’s coming of age and realization of

himself, his patron’s time in Australia as a transported convict

must be acknowledged. This alone does not make Great

Expectations about the colonization of Australia, but it does

reveal Dickens’ participation in a certain way of thinking

common to Englishmen of his time. Pip’s shock when he discovers

Abel Magwitch—a former Australian convict—to be his patron comes

from his perception of Australia as the antithesis of

gentlemanliness and high society. Through Magwitch, Dickens

illustrates not just a societal regard for its criminal class,

but for its foreign territory. 47

For more, see the introduction to Said’s Culture and 47

Imperialism, which discusses this example in greater detail than

I do, and in a different context.

Peraic 44

I believe something similar is happening in Paradise Lost.

In creating Eden as a newly discovered foreign locale, Milton

reveals a certain attitude regarding such foreign locales. Eden

is best characterized by its abundance and plenty, which is

likely how Milton would have regarded the New World: a place of

abundance and plenty. His basis for whether or not these spaces

should be settled depended not on the identity of the

colonizers, but the nature of the land they colonized. When

these locales are populated and cultivated, to settle them

constitutes an unlawful invasion. When these locales are vacant,

to settle them is to take rightful advantage of untapped

resources. The dichotomy in models suggests that Milton saw his

country’s colonialism as justifiable, if done ethically.

The need for colonialism to be justified complicates this

previously neat dichotomy; settler colonialism carries its own

brand of injustices separate from imperial colonialism. The land

which the Puritans thought to be vacant was still native land,

and the misunderstandings following their settlement lead to

territorial seizure and open conflict. Adam and Eve are exempt

from committing similar injustices, but that, I believe, is the

point. Comparing Milton’s good and bad colonialism reveals his

willful ignorance of settler colonial violence in portraying it

Peraic 45

as “good.” He sets about justifying it purely in contrast with

“bad” colonialism.

I want to take one last moment to discuss why this matters.

Just as Dickens incidentally revealed his understanding of the

Australian penal colonies, Milton incidentally revealed his

understanding of New England and the Caribbean. When creating

his foreign Eden, Milton uses imagery unfamiliar to the common

mainland Englishman—such as that of the Americas—to establish

Eden as an unfamiliar landscape. In doing so, he reveals his

thoughts on the American landscape: thoughts concerning how best

to colonize it. Whether or not he actively participated in early

colonial discourse, Milton still absorbed its ideas, attitudes,

and theories; the result, in Paradise Lost, is a moral and

ideological justification of the colonial enterprise. I want to

finally suggest something broader: that this demonstrates the

way citizens of any colonial power regard foreign territories,

especially their colonies. Just as Milton portrays Eden as a

distant haven of abundance and plenty, so did early colonial

writers and strategists regard the newly discovered Americas.

Colonialism in any form depends on this idea: that before the

land to be colonized is an inhabited place with an existing

society and culture, it is a resource to be harvested and

consumed. To reconcile with the injustices committed in the

Peraic 46

process, pro-colonial thought turns to ideological and moral

imperatives for its colonization, usually in opposition to some

moral adversary. Milton demonstrates in Paradise Lost that as a

citizen and civil servant to a colonial power, he absorbs this

very school of colonial thought.

Peraic 47

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